Education Legal Advice for Parents

As a parent, if your child is experiencing problems with their education, it can be very worrying, frustrating and confusing. You want to make sure they get the best start possible in life, so it is important to know their rights and what you can do to protect your child’s education.

Please note: we are only able to take on cases on a privately paying basis. If you are unable to privately fund your case or you looking for general guidance on what actions you can take to protect you or your child’s education rights, you can refer to the Education section of the Citizens Advice website.

At IBB Law, we are experts in education law. We regularly assist parents of school and college age children who are struggling to get the support they need, have been mistreated by their education provider or are experiencing any other issues with their education.

Our education legal advice for parents covers matters including:

By providing clear advice on your child’s situation and their legal rights, we can give you a firm understanding of where you stand and what action you can take. Our education law solicitors can then provide close support through every stage of raising an issue or challenging a school or college decision with regard to your child.

We have an excellent track record of success for our clients, including helping students to get additional support, having exclusions overturned and stopping harmful behaviour that hurts children and their education.

By working proactively and sensibly with parents, children and educational institutions, we are often able to achieve amicable solutions that keep conflict to a minimum. However, please rest assured, we are ready to take robust action to defend your child’s education and wellbeing where needed.

We offer a fixed fee for an initial consultation that lasts up to 2 hours at £500 + VAT.

For expert education legal advice for parents, please contact our education law consultant Salima Mawji on 01895 207247 or email salima.mawji@ibblaw.co.uk.

Our expertise with education law

Our education law practice benefits from the expertise of consultant Salima Mawji, who is recognised as one of the country’s leading experts in this highly specialised area of law.

Salima has decades of experience helping parents and children to protect their access to education, secure the best possible educational support and ensure children’s wellbeing is adequately safeguarded at all times.

We have experience handling education law challenges at all levels, both dealing directly with schools and colleges, as well as taking complaints to Local Authorities, the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO), the Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and the courts.

No matter how difficult your situation might seem, we have the skills, experience and specialist knowledge to support you with confidence, giving you the best chance of securing the outcome your child needs.

How our team can help with education legal advice for parents

The process for getting child Special Educational Needs support can be long and complicated, with the need to jump through a lot of different hoops and ensure all of the right evidence is provided. Getting expert support can significantly increase the chances of your child getting the support they need.

Our expertise with Special Educational Needs includes:

Requests for EHCPs
Support for the EHCP assessment process
EHCP appeals
Residential care fee appeals

Find out more about how we can help with Special Educational Needs legal advice.

Being excluded from school, whether temporarily or permanently, can have a huge impact on a child’s education, their confidence and their future. It is therefore important that parents do everything they can to make sure their child is treated fairly and any issues with an exclusion are raised promptly and effectively.

Our expertise with school exclusions includes:

Fixed term exclusions
Permanent exclusions
Exclusion appeals to school governors
Referring a school exclusion to the Independent Review Panel (IRP)

Find out more about how we can help with school exclusions.

Raising a complaint against your child’s school can be a very intimidating prospect, so getting expert support can make all the difference. This can ensure you have a sound basis for your complaint and that you are able to follow the process for raising a complaint effectively.

Our expertise with school complaints includes:

Advice on whether you have grounds for a complaint
Support for dealing with school complaints procedures
Escalating complaints where you are not happy with the outcome of a school complaints process

Find out more about how we can help with school complaints.

If your child has been rejected from their first-choice school, it can be devastating for their education and confidence. However, in many cases it is possible to challenge school admissions decisions and secure your child a place at their first-choice school.

Our expertise with school admission appeals includes:

Infant Class Appeals
In-Year Admission Appeals
Secondary School Appeals
SSEN Adjacent Appeals

Find out more about how we can help with school admission appeals.

Parents who send their children to private school justifiably have high expectations of the level of educational support their children should receive. If you are unhappy with your child’s education or need to respond to a dispute raised by your child’s school, we can help.

Our expertise in disputes with independent schools includes:

Breach of Contract
Expulsion, Suspension, or Removal Requests
Issues around non-payment of school fees
Complaints and Grievance

Find out more about how we can help with disputes with independent schools.

Discrimination against a child on the basis of a characteristic protected under the Equality Act 2010 is illegal. If you believe your child has been subject to such discrimination, our educational law solicitors can help you to take action.

Our expertise with discrimination in schools includes:

Clear advice on whether you have a case for discrimination
Raising discrimination concerns with a school or college
Taking a discrimination claim to County Court
Appealing an unfavourable outcome to a discrimination claim

Find out more about how we can help with discrimination in schools.

Where a school has failed in their duty of care to your child, this may amount to negligence. In such cases, you can take action to expose this negligence and ensure your child receives the right educational support to put things right.

Our expertise in school negligence claims includes:

Children “left behind” in the classroom
Failure to provide an adequate standard of education
Failing to follow-up on non-attendance or truancy
Lack of support for special educational needs or disabilities

Find out more about how we can help with school negligence.

Bullying can be devastating for children, with a real impact on their education, mental health and sense of self-worth. Cyberbullying can be particularly harmful as it means children are not even safe at home. Where a school or college has failed to protect your child from bullying, including cyber bullying, we can help you to put things right.

Our expertise with bulling and cyber bullying includes:

Advice on your options
Help building your case
Raising concerns with your child’s school or college
Taking action against schools and colleges for failure to address bullying

Find out more about how we can help with bulling and cyberbullying.

Meet the team

Celia Whittuck
- - Celia Whittuck
  - Senior Associate
Victoria Denis
- - Victoria Denis
  - Solicitor
Malcolm Underhill
- - Malcolm Underhill
  - Consultant

Our education legal advice fees

Fixed fee initial consultation

We offer a brief free initial phone consultation with our experts. If we believe we can help, we will offer an initial consultation for a fixed fee. During this initial fixed fee consultation, we will discuss your case with you and answer any questions you have. We can then advise on whether we believe you have a case and the likely costs involved.

Transparent cost estimates

We typically work on a cost estimate basis for any work you ask us to undertake after the initial consultation. All costs will be agreed in advance, so you have total transparency over the cost of securing our help with your educational law issue.

The exact cost of our services will depend on the nature of your problem, including the amount of time and level of expertise needed to support you effectively. We will be happy to discuss this with you when you contact our team.

For more information on our education law pricing, please get in touch.

Get clear, practical education legal advice for parents

The information given here is intended for general information purposes only and should not be taken as legal advice.

For specific guidance relevant to your situation, please contact our education law consultant Salima Mawji on 01895 207247 or email salima.mawji@ibblaw.co.uk.